West Coast Vs East Coast Rap Beef
Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.Thousand.) became two of hip-hop'southward most notable icons amid an infamous rivalry that continues to agree the attention of fans more than 2 decades after their deaths.
The East Coast-Due west Coast beef "still resonates today," "History of Rap and Hip Hop" writer Soren Bakery says.
There were many factors behind the complex New York vs. Los Angeles turf rivalry that heightened between 1994 and 1997 and ultimatley lead to their deaths. The beefiness had everything to do with competition among record labels, media coverage, gang civilisation and two artists with a talent for rhythmic comebacks.
The first
Tupac and Biggie may be synonymous with the rivalry, but it existed, in a sense, before they hit the scene.
"There was always tension — there was always resentment, rather — amid some folks on the Westward Declension for the resistivity from New York DJs and artists to West Coast hip-hop," says Dan Charnas, a music history associate professor at New York University's Clive Davis Institute.
With New York Urban center being the birthplace of hip-hop, artists from L.A. felt they weren't given the same media coverage and public attending as those on the East Coast, says Baker, a sometime hip-hop announcer.
"The [Due west Declension] artists felt that when they came to New York, they didn't receive the same credence and admiration as when New York artists came to 50.A., because the West Coast's [artists] were more popular, simply from a sales perspective, than anyone at the time on the East Coast," Bakery adds.
The labels
Pac and Biggie were pitted confronting each other as their fame, and the genre'southward popularity, grew across the country.
The producers behind Westward Coast'south Decease Row Records (Dr. Dre, Suge Knight) and East Coast's Bad Male child Entertainment (Sean "Diddy" Combs) helped fuel the contest as years passed.
The L.A. scene got a boost when Dr. Dre joined forces with Suge to launch Decease Row in 1991, the same time Power 106 (KPWR-FM) branded itself as a hip-hop-focused radio station with its "Where hip-hop lives" slogan. Information technology wasn't until two years afterwards that Combs branched out into the business with Bad Boy Entertainment in NYC.
Rhythmic shade
And so, what exactly does this have to do with Tupac and Biggie? Not much, yet.
The drama took off when Tupac, who was on trial on allegations of sexual practice abuse, was shot five times by a group of robbers in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Times Square on Nov. xxx, 1994. Tupac believed it to be an inside job, and placed blame on his friends who were too invited to the studio — Biggie, Jimmy Henchman and Combs. It's unclear why Pac was the target of the robbery, only other artists, including Funkmaster Flex most recently, have insisted the artist may have shot himself. The incident — whether a message from a rival group, the work of a former friend or a random set on — was plenty to create a rift between Pac and Biggie that they were never able to repair.
It didn't exactly aid that Biggie released a track, "Who Shot Ya," shortly afterward, in which he clearly expressed loyalty to the East Coast and the Bad Male child crew. Simply responding to accusations via lyrics was already a key part of hip-hop.
"It was how hip-hop grew, these phone call and response answers. No questions about it," Charnas says. It'south mirrored today in rap battles and artist feuds, like that between Drake and Meek Manufacturing plant.
Damaged egos
Pac, feeling betrayed past his former friend, served ix months in Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York on a sexual assault accuse when Knight paid him a visit in 1995 and fueled the fire.
The producer went onstage at the Source Awards at Madison Square Garden'southward Paramount Theater on Aug. 3, 1995, and threw shade at record characterization rival Combs. "Whatever artist out there wanna be an artist, and wanna stay a star, and don't accept to worry well-nigh the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing — come up to Death Row," he said.
"Thug Life"
While the label never addressed what exactly sparked Suge to make the speech on Combs' turf, timeliness was a gene: Tupac had just signed with Death Row. The move wasn't but nigh music. Information technology marked Pac's acceptance into Suge'south powerful group, known to have gang affiliations.
Pac'due south decision ultimately reflected his desire to exist viewed as an administrative effigy, Charnas says, referring to the late artist as "royalty." "He didn't demand credibility. He had credibility, just information technology wasn't the kind of credibility he craved. What he wanted, for whatever reason, was to be seen with street credibility … that became his motto: Thug life."
Rappers' demise
Later on short-lived however successful careers surrounded by controversy, both Tupac and Biggie were shot and killed not long thereafter. Tupac was critically injured in a bulldoze-by shooting on the Las Vegas strip and died on Sept. xiii, 1996. Biggie was shot and killed on L.A.'s Miracle Mile half-dozen months afterward on March ix, 1997. While both cases remain unsolved, loyal fans and industry influencers still believe the East Coast-Westward Coast beef is to arraign.
"Information technology'due south one thing for a record label to promote an creative person who promotes violence. It's another thing when that violence becomes existent and affects people," Baker said. "It'due south not just amusement anymore. … It became existent life and the line between reality and entertainment blurred."
Source: https://www.amny.com/entertainment/east-coast-vs-west-coast-rivalry-a-look-at-tupac-and-biggie-s-infamous-hip-hop-feud-1-13742586/
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